Jets tip Giants in MetLife Bowl on OT field goal

EAST RUTHERFORD — Maybe neither team wanted to win the third MetLife Bowl.

The Jets and Giants certainly played that way at MetLife Stadium.

With the Jets suddenly rejuvenated thanks to a pair of long pass completions by two Jersey guys — Franklin Lakes’ Matt Simms and Howell’s Ryan Spadola — the Jets finally found a way to beat the Giants Saturday night, using a 32-yard Billy Cundiff field goal at 8:04 of overtime for a 24-21 win.

On a night when David Wilson put the G-Men up immediately with an 84-yard touchdown run on their first play, the Giants’ offense didn’t do much after that.

To their credit, the Jets got the plays they needed — a Matt Simms 22-yard TD pass to Spadola for a 21-18 lead with 2:02 left in the fourth and a 70-yarder in the OT that led to Cundiff’s eventual winner. But only after Giants coach Tom Coughlin had called timeout earlier to freeze Cundiff when he as set to kick a 40-yarder.

This game was so wacky the Geno Smith vs. Mark Sanchez duel for the Jets QB job had some strange twists. Smith worked into the third quarter, completing 16 of 30 passes for 199 yards and a TD. When he was replaced by Sanchez, the former Jets starter got sacked on a fumbled snap and eventually had to leave when drilled in the shoulder by Marvin Austin.

That brought on Simms, the youngest son of Giants great QB Phil. Matt completed six of 10 throws for 120 yards including the TD to Spadola, after Sanchez was 5-or-6 for 72.

Eli Manning was 8-for-20 for 83 and Curtis Panter, who played the entire second half and OT, was 13 for 29 for 140 and sacked twice.

You knew the response the Giants’ second straight preseason loss would bring from Coughlin.

“The only thing we can take away from this is that we fought like hell ourselves, but we did nothing to help ourselves on offense,” said Coughlin. “Some of the things you saw were ridiculous. Bad snap when you’re going to get in position for a field goal.

“There was no consistency the way we played on offense. There was no reason for us to flounder around like we did. All I can say is we have a lot of work to do and a short week to do it,” said the coach.

Wilson gave the Giants an immediate lead on their first play of the night when the second-year back broke off the left side, and once past the linebackers turned on the burners and went 84 yards down the right sideline for the quickest score in the 45-year history of the preseason rivalry.

It would be a short-lived lead because the Jets matched it with an 86-yard, 8-play drive on the ensuing possession, capping the drive when rookie Smith hit Ben Obomanu wide open at the five and the wideout went in untouched for a 22-yard score.

Josh Brown put the Giants up 10-7 at halftime with a 40-yard field goal, but it should have been a bigger lead at the break. Helped by two Kyle Wilson interference penalties the Giants closed the half getting o the two. First Wilson was whistled for a 22-yard penalty pulling down Jerrel Jernigan’s arm on a potential completion to the 38.

Moments later Wilson was caught interfering with Hakeem Nicks, who still made the catch for a 34 yard completion to the four. But two plays later Nicks couldn’t get to Eli Manning’s floater into the left corner of the endzone, preventing a touchdown 1:47 before the break.

After a holding penalty on rookie tackle Justin Pugh and a 13-yard sack against Curtis Painter who had taken over for Manning, the Jets took their first lead (14-10) when Bilal Powell took a direct snap and went off the right side for a 2-yard score.

Big Blue go within a point when Brown added a 33-yard field goal before the Giants defense took over. First it forced Smith out of the endzone for a safety, and a 15-14 lead, then followed with a Marvin Austin sack of now backup Jets’ QB Mark Sanchez.

Moments later Sanchez made a bigger blunder when he fumbled a direct snap that MarkHerzlich recovered to give Big Blue possession at the 39.